Where to start? Life in Singapore is still going well - Kellie and I are keeping busy enough - which is actually a lot easier for her, since I've been out of work since just before our US trip in July, about a month. The previous gig, for a number of reasons, just wasn't a good fit and I opted to leave and explore other options. Hopefully I'll be able to update you all in the next couple of weeks on my new job - if not, be prepared for complete and utter ramblings as I'm slowly boring myself to death while Kellie is at work. With respect to that last job - my attitude toward working in Singapore was the following - a job here should A.) provide me with new skills, experiences and skill sets - being here is my chance to do something different or 2.) it should pay me a ton of money (ideally it's both A and 2) - however - the job at Questex unfortunately offered neither. So - we move on. Like I said - the good Lord willing, I'll be back in the Rat Race soon enough and I'll update you all.
We got to go to America in July, which was a treat. I'll be completely honest here - I gained about 7 pounds while we were home (home?, is that home? is this home?). In that respect - I did come up with a new slogan which I'm pretty sure not everyone is sick of hearing me say yet - it is - "Home is where the stuff is." We still have a lot of stuff at home, buried in the Grafton house, but our everyday stuff is here. So, is this home?
Before I forget - Steven Tyler's book is an entertaining read, and Angry Birds is digital cocaine.
Ok - so let's have some fun with numbers:
6 - days - that I will be spending in China starting next Thursday the 25th. Kellie has to go back to Beijing for work and I'm tagging along. We're going to check out this famous "Great Mall of China" that I've heard so much about - they can see it from Space! I guess it has a bunch of Hard Rocks, someone saw an American Eagle and a Coldwater Creek with a bunch of Brookstones, but does not have a Gap. We'll also go to Tienanmen Square which is where China launched it's first space shuttle. They have Olympic Stadiums there too from Super Bowl III.
10 - kilometers - is this distance that my fat ass will attempt to "run" in Cambodia in December. Take a minute to muscle these two facts together in your brains. I'm running 10K, and I'm doing it in Cambodia. Kellie is along for the ride, as are 8 other members of our Singapore crew. Really matches up well with the couple kilos I porked on while stateside. Can you all do a little research on Cambodia? I know nothing about it, I've been boning up on my Chinese history.
1,500 - miles - we put on the rental car in Massachusetts during the 13 days we were home. I swear to Jeebus, we didn't even leave the state. Seriously? It was great to see so many people (if you weren't one of them - I'm sorry - it's far more difficult than I thought), spend time with our families, and spoil the SHIT out of Miss Winnie.
10 - pounds - the amount of steak I think I ate while we were home. I'd stamp a number on this for accompanying Coors Lights but who can count that high.
8 - dudes - were sleeping under the bridge near our house this afternoon when I went to get a haircut. This is sort of a trend here amongst the folks that keep Singapore clean. They work in the morning and then sleep under the bridge from about noon - 3pm. It's creepy in an extra creepy sort of creepdom.
15 - Roller Coaster Rides - accomplished in a less than 2 hours last weekend at Universal Studios Singapore. It's a very small park and it poured ALL morning but listening to locals SCREAM THEIR GUTS OUT on the coasters made it worth it. One woman was crying and hyperventilating after The Mummy.
30 - years - the epic birthday my Kellie celebrated on July 25th. We partied in two countries/continents/hemispheres.
I thought it would be interesting to add a couple things in blogs that the US could learn from Singapore
1.) No Pennies. The smallest currency I've seen in S'pore is S$.05 but most everything here is rounded to tenths of dollars. Brilliant - however, I can postulate that this has cost me about 2 grand in pennies since we've been here due to rounding.
2.) The taxi system here. I've already talked about the train system (MRT - or as I've indoctrinated amongst our crowd here - a new name - the Mr. T) and the buses - both of which are super convenient, efficient, and incredibly overcrowded. All the taxis here have LED signs on the roof (Green means available, red is not) so you know what you're dealing with. THEN, I have an app on my iPhone that finds me on GPS, and sends the request to the 7-8 nearest cabs to bid on my job. Closest Uncle wins - I then get a text with his license plate number (and the extra $3.50 fee).
Want to see some pictures?
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| Bar I saw in Singapore - KickButt name, eh? |
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| Ha! That's the Ballz |
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| Picture I took at dinner the other night of Marina Bay Sands - not a bad view |
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| The reason I got a coffee from Smitten the other day - |
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| The hard part about leaving Questex is that I miss PT very much. His nickname for me since Day 1 has been Kung Fu Panda - voiced by Jack Black. He believes we're one in the same - and so this shot at Universal was for him. |
I'm out -
